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Nocturne in B major, Op 62 No 1

Introduction

The Nocturne in B major is as contrapuntal as anything Chopin ever wrote, with the left hand playing a much bigger role than simply accompanying. The phrases seem unending, one overlapping into the next. The middle section is totally operatic, with the melody boldly sustained over syncopated chords. When we return to the opening material, the melody is richly ornamented with trills and flourishes. As with Bach, the ornamentation is not just superimposed, but rather part of the melodic line itself. A short bridge section after an expressive pause wanders gradually back to the tonic. The coda is dream-like and solitary.

Recordings

Stephen Hough joins the celebrations for Chopin’s 200th birthday with a disc containing much of the composer’s most extraordinary music, written in the last years of his life where the possibilities of his art were constantly unfolding as he imbue ...» More

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. This monumental recording project—first instigated by t ...» More

The Nocturne in B major, Op 62 No 1, written in 1846, is a good example of the modern scholar’s problems with finding the ultimate version of a piece, where a particular section (bars 53-55) have undergone various modifications from the initial sketch through the autographs and proofs. All the corrections were entered by Chopin himself, but in the end we are left with several equally valid versions that the composer even posted at the same time to different destinations.